Palo Alto Networks predicts a convergence of AI and cybersecurity by 2025, emphasizing a `cyber arms race` amid rising AI-driven threats. Read...

The New Zealand Government is set to implement eInvoicing across all agencies by 2026, promising faster payments and improved accuracy for businesses. Read...

The Salesforce Agentforce World Tour in Auckland attracted over 1,300 attendees, showcasing the impact of autonomous AI agents on New Zealand businesses. Read...

MSI unveils AI and HPC server solutions featuring NVIDIA MGX architecture and Intel Xeon 6 processors, enhancing compute density and energy efficiency. Read...

Amazon Web Services teams up with the prpl Foundation to streamline software deployment on customer premises equipment, enhancing applications like motion sensing. Read...

Look, don’t tell anyone over at our sister site Macworld, but I have to confess: the iPad is pretty great. And that’s coming from someone who’s been an Android die-hard since the Nexus One! Truth be told, I’ve got a fourth-gen iPad Air on my desk that never turns off. And you know what? Right now, Amazon is offering a fantastic deal on an even newer model: the 2024 iPad Air M2 is $100 off. For just $499, you can get the 11-inch iPad Air, powered by the M2 processor, with 128GB of storage and in four color options. It’s a rare discount on one of Apple’s most popular tablet models — in fact, I’d be surprised to see it go any lower even on Black Friday. The physical design of the iPad Air hasn’t changed a whisker since 2020, back when the iPad lost its physical home button and moved its fingerprint sensor to the power button. But to be fair, it’s not as if it needs any big changes. While you could hope for the OLED screen upgrade seen on the latest iPad Pro, you won’t find any such new OLED tablets in this price range. The upgraded M2 processor is the biggest deal if you’re coming from an older iPad Air. The CPU has the same Arm-based design that goes into some models of the MacBook Air and Pro laptops and the 2023 Mac Mini, but it’s using a newer and more efficient 9-core GPU. That means it should be able to handle just about any game or media app you can find on the App Store without breaking a sweat. Amazon is also offering a similar $100 discount on the 512GB and 1TB models of the 11-inch iPad Air M2, bringing their prices down to $799 and $999, respectively. That’s a lot for a tablet, but it’s still cheaper than the cheapest iPad Pro of the same size and capacity. If your budget is tight, though, you won’t be disappointed by the 128GB for $499. Save $100 on an iPad Air M2 (2024 model)Buy now on Amazon Read...

The wait is over! The highly anticipated Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 officially launches on PC and Xbox Series X/S today, marking the dawn of a new era for the flight sim with many new features and improvements. Itching to jump in and get started? Before you do, here are some crucial details worth knowing about the release of MSFS24. Release time and download size The official release time of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is November 19, 2024 at 11am EST. However, you can start the preload in advance to avoid long waiting times after it releases. You can start the pre-installation if you have either pre-ordered the game or have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, as this includes Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 from day one. To do this, search for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 in the Xbox app on PC or console and select the pre-installation. (The pre-installation doesn’t download the complete game. Depending on your internet connection, it may still take a lot of time to download the remaining files.) Officially, the installation size of MSFS24 is only 50GB, which is relatively small for such a large game. However, it’s quite possible that we’ll see a large day-one patch that makes final tweaks to the game. Secure your pre-order bonuses now Depending on which version of the game you pre-order, you’ll receive unique bonuses and additional content that come with it. Here’s an overview of them all: Standard Edition: De Havilland Canada CL-415 Firefighting Aircraft Deluxe Edition: All bonuses in Standard Edition plus 25 additional aircrafts and 10 additional international airports Aviator Edition: All bonuses in Deluxe Edition plus 30 additional marketplace aircrafts Incidentally, it’s also possible to play Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 via the cloud if your PC doesn’t meet the minimum requirements. You’ll need a current Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription for this. Further reading: The best cloud gaming service for you Read...

Here’s a fun little deal that snuck its way into the lesser-known Opera web browser: right now, you can snag three months of Spotify Premium for free thanks to a collaboration between Spotify and Opera. Opera recently announced that the new Opera One R2 desktop web browser will include an integrated music player feature that allows users to access Spotify directly within, and it will come with a complementary three months of Spotify Premium. To take advantage of the offer, you first need to download the latest version of Opera One. Install the browser, complete the initial setup, and launch it. The browser’s default music player is Spotify, which you’ll see as a small icon in the browser’s left sidebar. The music player will take you to the Spotify Premium offer and give you the option to upgrade to Spotify Premium with an existing (or newly created) free Spotify account. This offer is only valid for new customers, meaning accounts that have never been Premium before. While the offer is currently only available through the Opera One browser, there are plans to extend it to Android devices in early 2025. Further reading: Opera One users can try AI features for free Read...

Back in August a U.S. federal court found Google guilty of violating anti-trust laws, and the fallout could be the biggest antitrust action since the breakup of AT&T/Bell way back in the 1980s. But exactly what the enforcement action will look like is still very much in the air. Recent reports indicate that the U.S. Department of Justice is going to suggest that Google be forced to sell the Chrome browser. That’s according to Bloomberg, which has been rock-solid on this case for years. Previously the DoJ was said to be considering some kind of breakup of Google’s big three corporate assets: Search, Chrome, and Android. Some or all of them were on the table, but the DoJ has apparently settled on Chrome as the piece of the monopoly puzzle that has to go. The federal team will also suggest that Google be forced to refrain from making the kind of exclusivity contracts that have become a staple of its OEM partnerships for Android and Chrome devices, according to the report. The DoJ also wants Google to give websites more tools to effectively opt-out of being used in the company’s extensive data scraping for AI training. Note that this doesn’t mean it’s a done deal. Assuming that Bloomberg is accurate, that means that DoJ attorneys will suggest Google be forced to divest itself of Chrome to District Judge Amit P. Mehta. The judge will have fairly broad authority on whether to proceed with that action, or suggest some other way of enacting the ruling that Google is operating an illegal monopoly. Whatever happens, Google’s legal team will inevitably appeal for a lighter punishment, if not throwing out the ruling entirely. A Google vice president accused the Department of Justice of “push[ing] a radical agenda that goes far beyond the legal issues in this case.” Google’s appeal is a surprise to no one. But if you’ll follow me along on a little tech pundit speculation, it’s not hard to guess what the company is hoping for on the other end. With Trump’s election win and a second presidential term looming in less than two months, Google is hoping that the wheels of justice will turn slowly enough for a new administration with total control of the federal government to take power. Given the pace of the case thus far — the antitrust case began just over four years ago — that seems like a safe bet. With Republicans in general and Trump in particular, a stripping of federal power to regulate and prosecute corporations is a given. So the obvious hope is that a second Trump DoJ would essentially forget about any kind of corporate oversight. Given Trump’s history of legal issues with real estate and dozens of other businesses, not to mention his early pick of Florida libertarian congressman Matt Gaetz as attorney general, Google might be hoping to get out of this with less than a slap on the wrist. But there’s another wrinkle to this particular story. While American conservatives generally position themselves as anti-regulation at every opportunity, there are a few notable exceptions, and one of them is tech and social media. Republicans have long accused any and all technology companies of enabling bias against them. And Trump is no exception — indeed, he’s the ur-example for the current climate. “Google’s got a lot of power. They’re very bad to me. Very, very bad to me,” said Trump in an October interview, echoing previous statement’s against the search company. “…I’m getting a lot of good stories lately, but you don’t find them in Google.” I think it’s a whole rigged deal. I think Google’s rigged just like our government’s rigged all over the place.” JD Vance, the vice president-elect, has said that Google should be broken up entirely, calling it “one of the most dangerous companies in the world.” So Google is in the sights of the current Department of Justice for abusing monopoly power, and it’s being targeted by the incoming administration for perceived slights against specific individuals. Predicting Trump’s mood at any given moment is a fool’s errand, to say nothing of his actions. But however the case shakes out, Google is between a rock and a hard place. Read...

Windows 11 24H2 has been struggling with numerous problems since it released back in October, including network connectivity failures, broken keyboard shortcuts, and crashing Office apps. For many, the only fix so far has been to revert to a previous version of Windows 11. Last week, Microsoft released cumulative update KB5046617 that was supposed to improve stability and fix bugs in 24H2. Unfortunately, the rescue update itself is now causing frustrations because users are having trouble getting it to install at all. They’re running into various error messages with no clear causes. If you’re one of these users, here’s some good news: there’s a workaround you can use to solve the problem yourself. The problem with patch KB5046617 You may encounter problems at various points when trying to install cumulative update KB5046617. According to Windows Latest, you might receive error codes 0x800f0991 or 0x800f0922 after the installation reaches somewhere between 35 and 40 percent. For others, the update might appear to install successfully, only for the Windows Update section of Settings to say that the update actually failed. This is particularly frustrating because it doesn’t explain why the installation failed, making troubleshooting near impossible. To add insult to injury, Windows 11 will keep trying to install the update after failure, which can result in a continuous loop. What you can do if you’re affected Apparently, it’s possible to successfully install the KB5046617 patch if you do it manually instead of through Windows Update. To do this, you need to open the Microsoft Update Catalog and search for KB5046617. Then, next to the appropriate one for your system, click the Download button. When the pop-up appears, click the appropriate link to download the installer file. Double-click the file to install the update — it should succeed without any error messages. If you still run into problems installing the update, the only solution is to wait for Microsoft to fix the error. Unfortunately, there’s no information as to when that might happen as of this writing. Further reading: My favorite improvements in Windows 11 24H2 Read...